A Lake City man serving two consecutive life terms for the murder of a mother and her son in Glidden in May of 2014 has been denied post-conviction relief. According to documents filed with Iowa District Court for Carroll County on Tuesday, Judge Adrian Kester ruled there was no validity to Thomas Guy Henderson’s claim of ineffectual counsel. The 60 year old filed applications for post-conviction relief in 2017 and in 2018, saying a local newspaper printed in a story about the case that there was no evidence to support his conviction, that his attorney did not attack the DNA evidence presented, improper hearsay was admitted, his sentence was in violation of the United States Constitution and the court abused its discretion by denying a mistrial. The 2017 appeal was denied and Henderson then amended his 2018 appeal on April 5 of this year. He claimed there was new evidence not previously presented to the court and again stated ineffective assistance of counsel and requested a new trial. Both Henderson’s mother and sister-in-law stated they were not called to testify during the trial and that they could have provided an alibi. His counsel, however, determined their testimony did not cover the three-day period in question to establish a solid alibi and that testimony about Henderson’s temperament would be detrimental to the case. Judge Kester wrote in the ruling that Henderson must prove his counsel failed to perform an essential duty and that he suffered prejudice as a result. There is nothing in the record to show the trial counsel’s actions regarding failure to call the two witnesses amount to ineffective assistance as neither could supply an alibi for the time period in question. In fact, the court found his attorney advanced sound arguments at trial. The ruling in denial of the application also ordered costs of the action to be levied against Henderson. Henderson was convicted in 2015 in the beating death of 48-year-old Tami DeVore after an argument broke out while Henderson was giving DeVore a tattoo in the bedroom of her Glidden trailer. Her son, 30-year-old Karl DeVore, was sleeping in the living room and Henderson bludgeoned and stabbed him to death as well. Court records show Henderson’s attorney has already filed a notice of appeal of Judge Kester’s ruling.
